#lover era is a bit messy but i think its supposed to be how life is srill messy even if youve found love

[shirlleycoyle]

How 9/11 Became Fan Fiction Canon

Every fictional character you can think of has experienced 9/11 in fanfiction.

A Clone Wars veteran with two lightsabers is on United Airlines Flight 93 and prevents it from crashing. Ron and Hermione get caught up in the chaos as the towers fall. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her friends watch the attacks unfold on TV from Sunnydale. We have spent 20 years trying to process what happened on 9/11 and its fallout, and that messy process can be tracked through the countless, sad, disturbing, and sometimes very funny fanfiction left across the internet.

Many of the fanfics written in the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks seemed to directly respond to the news as it happened, processing the tragedy in real-time through the eyes of characters they loved. In the absence of a canon episode where Daria Morgendorffer paid respects to those lost, writing fanfic about these characters also experiencing trauma helped fans cope.

One YuGiOh fanfic published on fanfiction.net in May 2002 could have been ripped exactly from what this writer experienced that Tuesday morning. “It started as a normal day,” user Gijinka Renamon wrote. Yugi and his friends were in school, where their teacher informed them of the attacks and sent everyone home from school.

“After reading people’s 9/11 fics, I decided to write my own, and put a certain character in it. And Yugi and his pals were my first choice,” the author's note reads, explaining the connection they felt to United flight 93 and the World Trade Center attacks. Given that they lived in Pennsylvania, and “it’s close to New York, I felt really sad about it.”

Stitch, a fandom journalist for Teen Vogue, told Motherboard that this reaction to 9/11 is not at all uncommon in fandom.

"Fandom has always been a place that positions nothing as 'off limits,'" she said. "Historical tragedies like the Titanic sinking and atrocities like… all of World War 2 show up regularly across the past 30 years of people creating stories and art about the characters they love. So, on some level, it makes sense that 9/11 and the following 20-year military installation in the Middle East has joined the ranks of things people in different fandoms turn into settings for their fan fiction."

Reactions depicted in a handful of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfics published in the weeks after the attacks ring a little truer to the characters. “Tuesday, 11th September 2001,” written by Anna K, almost echoes the lyrics from “I’ve Got a Theory,” one of the songs in the musical episode that aired in November 2001. “We have seen the apocalypse. We have prevented it. Actually, we’ve prevented quite a few. So we know what they look like,” they write, before taking a darker turn. “They look a lot like…New York today.”

Killing demons and vampires doesn’t phase the Scooby Gang, but when preventable human death is brought into the picture, it’s gut wrenching.

“What am I supposed to do…When I can’t do anything to save the world?” Buffy cries  into Spike’s chest, watching the attacks unfold on TV in a fanfic the author described as being “about feeling numb and helpless.”

In “Blood Drive,” Kirayoshi writes about Buffy and her friends saving a van full of donated blood meant for victims of the attacks from a group of thirsty vampires. One Buffy the Vampire Slayer fic even takes a blindly patriotic turn, where noted lesbian witch Tara McClay helps Xander hang an American flag from the window of the magic shop to make Anya feel better.

Experiencing 9/11 as a young teenager was overwhelming not just because of the loss of life. Almost immediately after the event itself, it was as if the entirety of American culture re-oriented itself towards an overtly jingoistic stance. As we get distance from the attacks, seeing the tone of television and movies from the early 2000s is jarring, and some have gone viral on Twitter. In the world of pop music, mainstream musicians like the Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, were blacklisted from the radio while Toby Keith sang about putting a boot up the ass of terrorists. On the Disney Channel, a young Shia Labeouf reading a poem he supposedly wrote about the events. The poem concludes with the line, "it's awesome to be an American citizen."

In a world so completely saturated with this messaging, it is not surprising that fanfic authors started including 9/11 in their work so soon after the event. Even The West Wing had a strange, out of continuity, fanfic-esque episode where the characters reacted to 9/11. In some cases, it made sense that the characters in the stories would be close to or a part of the events themselves.

"For characters like John Watson or Captain America, the idea works to an extent," Stitch told Motherboard. "In the original Sherlock Holmes works and the 2011 BBC series, Watson had just returned from Afghanistan. For Captain America and other Marvel heroes, 9/11 was something that was addressed in-universe in The Amazing Spider-Man volume 2 #36. Technically, 9/11 is 'canon' to the Marvel universe."

In “Early Warning: Terrorism,” a fanfiction for the TV show Early Edition in which a man who mysteriously receives tomorrow's newspaper, predicting the future, avoids jingoism, but tries to precent 9/11 from happening. This fanfic remains unfinished; it’s unclear if the characters successfully prevent 9/11 in this retelling.

Largely in fanfic from the era just after 9/11, when many young authors were trying to emotionally grapple with it, the characters don't re-write or undo the events themselves. It's this emphasis on the reaction to tragedy that colors the fanfiction that features 9/11 going forward.

Although fanfiction authors have been writing about 9/11 consistently since soon after the event, whenever that fanfiction reaches outside of its intended audience, it looks bizarre.

A screenshot of a Naruto 9/11 fanfic on the Tumblr subreddit comes without any context, or even more than two lines and an author's note. It’s impossible to suss out if this falls into the category of sincere fanfic without the rest of the piece or a publication date, but modern-day commenters on the Reddit thread see it as classic Tumblr trash.

Screenshot from r/Tumblr

“Bin Laden/Dick Cheney, enemies to lovers, 10k words, slow burn,” one user joked in the replies, underscoring the weirdness of Naruto being in the Twin Towers by comparing it to a What If story about Cheney and Bin Laden slowly falling deeply in love.

It’s hard to tell how much of the 9/11 fanfic and fanart starting a few years after the attacks is sincere, and how much of it is ironic, and trying to make fun of the very concept of writing fanfiction about 9/11.

A 2007 anime music video (in which various clips, usually from anime, are cut together to music) that combines scenes from The Lion King with Linkin Park’s “Crawling” and clips from George Bush’s speeches immediately after the attacks feels like the perfect example of this. Even the commenters can’t seem to suss out if this person is a troll or not.

There’s no way that My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic 9/11 fanart could be serious, right? Especially if the description pays tribute to “some of the nation's most memorable buildings,” and features five of the main characters as child versions of themselves. The comments again are split between users thanking the artist for a thoughtful remembrance post, and people making their own headcanon for why Twilight Sparkle is surreptitiously absent from the scene.

Screengrab via DeviantArt

There’s Phineas and Ferb fanfic that combines a 9/11 tribute concert with flashbacks to Ferb being rescued from the towers as a baby, written on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. It jumps from introspection to lines like, “‘Quiet Perry the Platypus. I’m trying to listen to these kids singing a 9/11 tribute.’”

The author's notes make it more likely that they meant for this to be a tribute piece, but it doesn’t quite make sense until watching a YouTube dramatic reading of it from 2020, fully embracing the absurdity of it all.

“For me, 9/11 is synonymous with war. It completely changed the course of my life," Dreadnought, the author of a Captain America fanfic Baghdad Waltz that sees Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes fall in love over the course of the war on terror, told Motherboard. "It’s the reason I joined the military, and I developed deep connections with people who would go on to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq. These very much felt like my generation’s wars, perhaps because people I graduated high school with were the youngest folks eligible to serve at the time.”

Dreadnought told Motherboard that although they didn't deploy, their career has kept 9/11 and the trauma from it in their mind. After seeing that people who fantasize about Steve and Bucky getting together seemed particularly interested in reading fanfiction that related to 9/11, they decided to try their hand at it.

"I had to do something with all of that emotionally, and I’m admittedly a bit emotionally avoidant. So I learned through fic that it’s easier for me to process those feelings and the knowledge of all the awful stuff that can happen in war if I can turn it into something creative," Dreadnought said. "Give the feelings to fake people and then have those fake people give the feelings to readers!"

To Dreadnought, who is a queer man, the experience of researching and writing this was more cathartic than they first expected, especially as a way to navigate feelings about masculinity, military culture, and queer identity. But they said the research they did, which included watching footage of first responders at ground zero, was what helped them finally process the event itself.

"It was like a delayed horror, and it was more powerful than I expected it would be." Dreadnought said. "When I was eighteen, I was pretty emotionally divorced from 9/11; I just knew I wanted to do something about it. So coming back to it in my 30s while writing this fic, it was a very different experience. Even the research for this story ended up being an extraordinarily valuable exercise in cognitively and emotionally processing 9/11 and all of its second and third order effects."

Fanfiction that features 9/11 provides an outlet for people who still grapple with the trauma from that day. But Stitch warns that the dynamics of fandom and how it relates to politics can also create fiction that's less respectful and more grotesque.

"With years of distance between the stories written and the original events of 9/11, there seems to be some sort of cushion for fans who choose to use those events as a catalyst for relationships—and Iraq and Afghanistan for settings," Stitch said. "The cushion allows them room to fictionalize real world events that changed the shape of the world as we know it, but it also insulates them from having to think about what they may be putting into the world."

The tendency of turning these events into settings or backgrounds for mostly white, male characters to fall in love has the unintended effect of displacing the effects that the war on terror has had on the world over. Steve and Bucky might fall in love during the war on terror, but they would also be acting as a part of the American military in a war that has been criticized since it started. Fanfic writers in other fandoms have come under fire for using real world tragedy as settings for fic before. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake Supernatural fanfiction about the actors Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki going to the island to do aid became controversial within the fandom. There have also been fics where characters grapple with the death of George Floyd that is written in a way that displaces the event from the broader cultural context of race in America.

"A Captain America story where Steve Rogers is a 'regular' man who joins the US Army and 'fights for our freedom' post-9/11 is unlikely to deal with the war’s effect on locals who are subject to US military intervention," Stitch said. "It’s unlikely to sit with what Captain America has always meant and what a writer is doing by dropping Steve Rogers into a then-ongoing conflict in any capacity."

After enough time, “never forget” can even morph into “but what if it never happened?” A 19k+ word Star Wars alternate universe fanfic asks this question, wondering what would have unfolded if someone with two lightsabers was on United Flight 93. This fic, part of a larger fanfic series with its own Wikia, considers what would have happened if Earth was a military front in the Clone Wars.

In this version of events, a decorated general who served in the Clone Wars is able to take back control of Flight 93 before it crashes, landing safely and preventing even more tragedy from happening that day. In the end, all of the passengers who made harrowing last calls to their loved ones before perishing in a Pennsylvania field survive thanks to the power of the Force, and are awarded medals of honor by President Bush.

Twenty years after the attacks, it’s painful to think about what would have happened if people got to work 15 minutes later, or missed their trains that morning. There weren’t Jedi masters deployed to save people in real life, but for some of the fanfic writers working today, the world of Star Wars might feel just as removed as the world before September 11, 2001.

Fiction serves as a powerful playground for processing cultural events, especially generational trauma. The act isn't neutral though; a decade's worth of fanfiction that takes place on or around 9/11 shows how our own understanding of a traumatic event can shift with time.

How 9/11 Became Fan Fiction Canon syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[babbushka]

I would LOVE to hear your take on Mobster!Kylo! You are so talented!

ahh thank you!! please enjoy this little scene that’s been bouncing around in my brain. I’d like very much to turn this into a full fic one day, if anyone would be interested in reading! 

They said the crime families were dead and gone, died off with the end of an era.

They didn’t know what the fuck they were talkin’ about.

You knew they were alive and well, deep underground, much quieter, cleaner. Couldn’t be as messy now, not with the fucking cops keeping their nose to the ground, sniffing out clues as to who did it, who did any of it, in the city.

“What are you thinking about?” You asked your man, picking a piece of lint off his pristine suit, flicking it into the air.

Kylo ran the city, he and his Knights of Ren. Everything from downtown to midtown was his territory, and he took good care of his territory. 

He took better care of you.

You were sitting across his lap in the office, a beautiful thing overlooking the park. It was the first office space you had really liked the view of, so Kylo bought it – of course he did. He bought it and bought furniture you liked and hung up art you liked.

He wanted to get everything you liked, he got rid of the shit you didn’t.

The people you didn’t.

“Thinking about your uncle.” He said, voice a deep rumble in his chest. He didn’t do much by way of emotion, tended to be cold, reserved.

You pressed a sweet kiss to his cheek, soft smooches at the spot where you knew dimples lived if he would ever smile. You got a twitch out of him, and that was enough to satisfy you.

You came from a crime family too, a big one. It didn’t matter so much to you, being part of the business, but that life was all you knew, all you liked. You met Kylo and the rest was history, you were his girl, his lover.

You were a lot of things, but you were his.

You were a lot of things, but right now you were sittin’ on his lap as he overlooked the books. You didn’t give a shit about the money, but you knew there was a lot of it. A lot.

Enough to buy you fancy clothes and diamonds and pearls, enough to keep the bar stocked with top shelf liquor. Stacks and stacks of cash hidden away, squirreled away for a rainy day.

It was raining outside the office. 

“What’d my uncle do?” You asked, resting your head on his shoulder.

One of his hands wormed its way between your thighs. You spread them a little for him, just enough that he could nestle them there, safe.

“Nothing, that’s the problem.” He sighed, and you could feel how his shoulders moved, how the holster that was strapped around his chest at all times shifted underneath his jacket. “He was supposed to collect last week and he never did.”

“You gonna take him out?” You asked, nonchalantly.

Kylo didn’t give very many chances.

“No, I don’t want to start a war. I just need to figure out who to send instead.” He said.

You nodded, a war wouldn’t be good – not that anyone would dare go against him, go against you. Still, there were other members of the family who were just as capable, especially –

“You could send your sister.” You suggested, but Kylo quickly shook his head. He didn’t like talking about his sister, they had a rough history.

“Rey’s too busy running the upper-east side, I can’t bother her to deal with midtown too.” He dismissed the idea.

“Want me to give them a call? I’m sure they haven’t spent it.” You offered, and that got him to finally look away from the books and smile at you.

“No baby, you sit right here and keep me company.” He said, leaning in to kiss you sweetly on the lips, his nose rubbing against yours.

He was paranoid about you being too far, didn’t like you too far away from him. Liked you on his lap all the time, if he could help it. If not on his lap, then at least pressed up against him, his arm around your shoulder. You had saved him once, a long time ago. Had saved him when he was out cold dying in the streets, a gash so big on his face he was sure he’d be blind in an eye – but you’d found him, had taken him in, had fixed him up.

He never wanted to be too far from you, never.

You smiled against his lips, kissed him as you reached over across the desk and plucked the cherry out of his cocktail.

“I wasn’t gonna go anywhere, just make a call.” You said and he watched as you bit the cherry in half.

You offered the other half to him, it stuck between your teeth. He leaned in and kissed you, stealing the cherry.

“Why don’t you take a break and fuck me, hm?” You asked, rubbing soothing circles on his back, “You’ve been staring at the books for three hours trying to make the numbers make sense, I think you need a break.”

“How can I say no to my pretty girl when you ask like that?” He asked, patting your thigh to let you know you could get up.

You grinned, and as the two of you walked arm in arm out of the office, down the hallway and to the elevator, you could see the rain starting to disappear.

#reader insert #kylo ren x reader #mobster!kylo #mob kylo au #my writing #thank you!!! #Anonymous #cowboy answers

[mysticsparklewings]

I will be with You

When you go, just know that I will remember you If living was the hardest part, we'll then one day be together And in the end we'll fall apart, just as the leaves change in color And then I will be with you, I will be there one last time now --My Chemical Romance, "It's Not a Fashion Statement, it's a Deathwish" ____ It's rare that I'm this proud of an artwork I've created. ^_^ Usually, there's some glaring issue or just an assortment of small things I'd still change if I had the patience and/or artistic ability to do it. Or even just some things that I feel like could've been done better, even if I know it did the best I could. This time? No. Not right now, shortly after it's been completed, anyway. I'm sure years down the line from now I'll look back and feel at least slightly different. But as it stands now, while I'm sure it has its faults, I am truly happy and truly proud of what I've created here and whatever faults are there aren't bothering me at all. So what then is this, exactly? This my dear Sparklers is a visual love letter to the band I discovered just a little too late but was still there for me when no one else was all the same. Earlier this month, I uploaded a different piece of art to celebrate the announcement of My Chemical Romance's Return, but even when I uploaded that one I was already thinking of doing another one, this time something that was more obviously fan art. But not just fan art as I've done for them in the past (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and Exhibit C), but something extra-special and fun. I really did go into creating this wanting it to be as I described it above; a visual love letter to this band that I love so much and could not be happier that they're back. As such, I've squeezed in as many references as I could: 1. The female figure is molded after Helena from the album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge 2. The male/skeleton figure is supposed to be Pepe (that's what Google said his name was, anyway), the icon and seemingly marching band conductor from The Black Parade album 3. On Pepe's hat, I replaced the usual symbol with the Candle symbol that's been featured in the band's Return artwork 4. They fade into leaves based on the line from It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish (a song from Three Cheers) that I quoted at the top of the description 5. behind them is Party Poison's mask, as featured in the Danger Days music videos 6. on the mask, I replaced one of the black triangle shapes with the hanging man silhouette from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love 7. The rest of the background is inspired by the covers for the Conventional Weapons releases (which in my mind I count as essentially an unofficial fifth album) (Debatable) 8. Their touching hands could be an indirect reference to the line "And as we're touching hands, and as we're falling down" from Demolition Lovers, a song from Bullets. That's at least one reference each (Three Cheers technically got two) for each of the main releases, plus one directly related to this new era we don't know much about yet. It's not an exhaustive "spot the reference" game, but I'm glad I was able to incorporate as many as I did. Now that I've explained them, maybe I can talk about my process without having to stop to re-explain each reference as they come up.   After some brainstorming, I got this image in my head of Helena and Pepe in this pose (inspired at least partially by this pre-existing fanart I've seen many times before) , which to me is a "renaissance dancing" pose but I'm sure there's some other better way to describe it I haven't thought of. I tried for a very long time to find a reference image of this exact pose to help me get the proportions and general anatomy right within my own stylization, but for the life of me, I couldn't find anything close enough to suit me and I really didn't want to have to settle for something else. As such, I'm sure the proportions and anatomy are off, but even so, I think I did pretty good considering. The main issues I ran into during sketching were mainly balancing the energy between the two characters--which I do think I managed in the end--Helena's skirt, as she's supposed to be holding onto it with that hand you can't see, and Pepe's torso. Originally, I was planning on doing this piece traditionally, but once the sketch was finished it almost immediately clicked into place that I'd be better served to do it digitally, considering what I wanted to do with the mask in the background already, as well as the leaf-fade. (The Conventional Weapons reference hadn't been planned yet, and it was technically only made possible later on by this piece being digital.) Luckily, doing things digitally meant that Pepe's torso was fixed pretty easily. It was too thin in the sketch, but all I had to do was select the right lines and move them out a bit in Photoshop. He's still a bit thin and not super buff, but personally I'm letting that go because...I mean, he's at least part if not all skeleton. If anyone's going to be too thin, wouldn't it make sense that it's him? Helena's skirt I did end up happy within the sketch but...we'll come back to the skirt in a moment. Pepe's...face? looked a bit odd in the sketch, but other than that, once I was happy with that foundation, I scanned it in and got to work on digitizing everything. I went over my lines for Helena and Pepe the way I normally would for something like this if a little intentionally messy instead of trying to get them super clean--as I thought that might be appropriate here--and then I paused with them to work on the mask behind them. The mask admittedly came out very poorly in the sketch, just because I bothered to look up no references for it whatsoever once I decided I was going to make this digital and I knew I could just draw half of it and flip it over. And I'm glad I didn't start trying to follow my sketch lines for it at all because looking up actual references showed me that would've been way off. While I had my reference up, I ended up going in and basically full-coloring and detailing the mask right then. That's the beauty of digital work; a lot of steps can be done basically out of order from how you'd have to do them traditionally and it doesn't matter because you can just move layers around and adjust effects later. I went with this pseudo-soft shading based on the colors and shadows I was seeing in my references, even though I wasn't sure yet exactly how I was going to shade Helena and Pepe. I figured that even if I used a different method for them that I could either go back and adjust the mask as necessary or that it wouldn't matter since the mask was part of the background anyway. Once that was done, I went back to ponder my two figures and the leaf effect that I wanted to do with them. And again, I went a little out of order here, as I ended up filling in the silhouette of Helena and Pepe with a blanket layer of gray so I could see how them blocking the mask was going to look (and I figured based on past experiences I might need the blanket layer in white later). From there, I went into working on the fading-to-leaves effect. My logic was that I'd need mostly the silhouettes of the leaves and then I'd get what I wanted after playing with layer effects or something. This assumption ended up being correct, but we're not there yet. As I worked, I kept looking at my "finished" messy lines. Something just didn't feel right. Honestly, I couldn't tell you where the idea to do this lineless look came from, but it got in my head as I was working and I kept looking at the lines I had and not being happy to just color those in as I normally would, shade it, and call it a day. I tried. I tried really hard to ignore the urge to at least try it and carry on as I was. I'd already come this far, and I'd be done so much faster if I stuck to the plan...But!! Clearly I lost that argument with myself. You know what though? I'm glad I did! I don't think I've ever done lineless art like this before, not counting my watercolor work where that's just part of the process to me. But digital? Certainly not. Human figures? Also no. I've come close in the sense that I've shaded my art before, turned off the line layers before, and thought, "oh hey that almost works without the lines because of the shading,"  but not much farther than that. Naturally, I wasn't even sure how or where to begin, so I went with what came naturally to me. I started by just filling in the lines as I normally would have, and then I went back layer by layer and went back and forth between having the line layer (with the opacity brought down somewhat already so I could sort of see what I was doing) on and off to try and balance the shapes between what they looked like with and without the lines. It's weird because if you ever try this, it's a little like having to figure out a bunch of individual silhouettes that make one whole one, except you need them to be a little more defined if you want them to make visual sense. That step and the next one, the shading, are tied in my mind for which one took me the longest. For the shading, I really just went in blind, using hard-edge cell shading, though originally I planning to come back with some soft shading in certain areas later. The soft shading ended up not happening partly because I liked it much better than I thought I would without it, and I thought the hard-edge shading made the figures pop a little more compared to the background. The thing about this was the same issue I run into with my lines nowadays; to get smooth shapes I spend a while going back and forth between putting color down and erasing it, and sometimes undoing and redoing the same line a dozen times to get it right in one stroke. But that's really my own fault for being stubborn and trying to work solely within Photoshop and not use other programs, as I know good and well I'd have less of that issue if I'd hop into Paint Tool Sai and use the linework layers in there. What can I say? I live up to my Capricorn sign by being as stubborn as a goat. Anyway. The biggest challenge to figure out the shading for was Helena's skirt. I think I would've still had issues with that though even if I colored and shaded my normal way, with the lines and everything. It's just the position it's in that complicates things. I actually did a good amount of shading in reverse here, where I'd make the base layer the shadow color and then the layer on top would be the regular color, as in some cases it just seemed easier to do that than the other way around. The part of Helena's dress around the top, for example. Or Pepe's pants (what little you can see of them). Additionally, I ended up leaving the feather attached to Pepe's hat alone and not really smoothing it out, as I thought the roughness and inconsistencies worked really well to make it seem more feathery. With enough patience and persistence and much back and forth among the various layers, I made it through all of that. I was a little concerned at first about some of my color choices and if the shading was too harsh in some places or not, but I mellowed out as I worked and ended up not making make adjustments after the fact. For instance, originally I thought I'd go back and make Pepe's...skin? closer to a true white and this fleshy off-white color was more of a placeholder, but the longer I worked with it, the more I didn't want to change it. It actually makes sense, given that his hands are normal (as they are presented in official artwork and other fan art not made by me) and that bones usually are naturally more of an off-white color. And I also think it just looks really good next to Helena's pale skin. The hands were a special challenge in regards to both shading and coloring, as hands like to be the more complicated part of a drawing more often than not, but even that I managed to get through with a lot more ease than I would've bet on. The other thing about that is that I was surprised once I got through the steps at how much better Pepe's face looked in comparison to the rest of the drawing. As I mentioned before, it looked odd in the sketch. But one I had most of the colors for him and Helena filled in digitally, the contrast or something just made it look infinitely better. (Combined with a hefty dose of earlier back-and-forth making adjustments to his jawbone area.) Originally, I thought I might use the same cell shading for Helena's eyeshadow. However, while I was still thinking of adding some selective soft shading, I added it using one of the brushes I'd used on the mask earlier. It looked so good to me that even after I tried added the soft shading with it like I planned and decided I didn't want/need it anywhere else, I kept it. And for the record, Helena's hair is kind of the wrong texture (it's officially more straight than this) and she's missing this little netted veil thing she's supposed to have, but I had a very specific vision in mind, so those were the two creative liberties I took with her design. I say it's fair game since I took a liberty with Pepe's hat to get the Return reference in. And besides, those two details being off doesn't make her totally unrecognizable if you know who Helena is in the first place. Once they were done, I spent longer than I bothered to document playing with the leaf layer I'd made earlier to try and figure out how to get the effect I wanted. Sparing you the boring details of my trial error, as I'm sure this description will be long enough without them, I eventually determined the best thing to do was to have one layer of the leaves on top set as an "overlay" layer, and another behind/beneath Helena and Pepe. Then I went back and extended my color and shading layers to extend down over the leaves, and I arranged and clipped the layers accordingly. Technically, the overlay layer wasn't necessary, but it added a little extra dimension that I really liked. By that point, it was my second day of working digitally and getting late, but I had to do one more thing before I could go to bed with my mind at ease that night. With Helena and Pepe done, I turned the mask back on (I'd turned it off so I could focus on them without it distracting me or otherwise getting in the way) and I felt like they weren't standing out enough against it. The bright yellow color was competing too much for my eyes' attention. So, after trying the "stroke" blending option in white and that looking God-awful, I added a new layer between them and the mask and manually gave them a white outline. It wasn't a perfect solution, and I knew that even then, but it was enough that I could sleep soundly knowing how far I'd gotten with the artwork. The next day I had to take a break from working on this to bust out a painting for the challenge I decided to take on this month, but I went back to this as soon as I could after that was taken care of. When I came back to it, I acknowledged that I technically could've left it as it was and call it finished. But I still didn't like how obnoxious the mask seemed for a background piece and it felt...I don't know. Almost hollow, in a way. It was a cool graphic, sure, but I wanting something more than that. Again, I'll spare you most of the nitty-gritty details. But long story short, I played around with layer effects and filters for a while until I had blurred the mask out just enough that it wasn't so obnoxious but also so looking at it directly didn't make me nauseous, and the edges were softened so it felt more like a true background piece and not just an accessory that had been plastered carelessly back there. It was only after I started saving off versions with different backgrounds--one with no background, one with white, one with black--that I realized I was missing a golden (semi pun intended) opportunity to incorporate a Conventional Weapons reference/allusion. Which was exciting because I'd previously been disappointed that I couldn't think of a good way to do that. I went back and forth on layer styles and adding texture with brushes and things for a while on that too, but you can see what I ultimately settled on. It's not a 1:1 to the CW covers, but I'm really pleased with it anyway. I did end up adding a bit more to the white outline in a few places and adding a drop shadow to Helena and Pepe so they'd pop a bit more (it almost makes them look like paper cutouts to me!), but really the only other thing I had to do after that was add my watermark. It took roughly 3 days of work from start to finish, but I was honestly surprised by how fairly smooth the process went. Especially considering the new things I'd tried along the way. I can only assume it's because of just how much my heart was really into making this piece. As I said before, I am truly proud of how this piece turned out. I love it. I love it, and I love the band that inspired its creation. Even the title says a lot here, I think. I picked this line that's repeated at the end of It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish, as it was a leading inspiration with the leaves and everything, and after looking at the lyrics I realized how fitting that line is for this. I discovered My Chemical Romance two years too late, two years after they broke up in 2013, but I've stuck by them ever since, and I will continue to do so, with whatever the unwritten future holds. They've changed, as anyone would over the course of six years, but they came back anyway. Even if it's just for a few shows and they're gone again. Or if it's going to be so much more than that. They. Came. Back. And that's not an easy thing to do a lot of the time. And so, I show my solidarity. I will be with you, MCR, no matter what comes next. You were there for me, and now it's my turn to be there for you, even if it as just another fan among the crowd. And that's really all I have to say on the matter. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

#mcrmy #mychemicalromance #mcr #helena #the black parade #three cheers for sweet revenge #danger days #thetruelivesofthefabulouskilljoys #killjoys make some noise #conventional weapons #return

[justtrash202]

Officially yours

Gorillaz fanfic

Rated: T

Pairing:2doc

Summary: After 20 plus years of being together, Murdoc and 2d have finally decided to tie the knot and fully commit to their relationship

February 14, 2014

Cum on cum on how hard it is ta ask one fuckin' question

Was all Murdoc could think of, as he found himself pasting back and forth in the middle of his messy room, feeling his nerves gaining more and more control with almost every step he took. His body was physically shaking, to the point where he had to put down the bottle of rum, he was carrying due to him spilling it everywhere. His breath shorten every time he tries to calm himself down with long and slow breathing. He was a nervous wreck; trying to control his unsettled nerves and prepare for the biggest leap he was about to take.  A leap that was going to make or break his secretive twenty plus relationship with a certain blue-haired god.

"Oh for fuck sake"

Murdoc mumbled angrily under his breath, stopping a few pastes from his bed. His mismatched eyes carefully glanced down at a navy-blue ring box that he was holding, this. This was the object that was causing him to be so distressed over something he believed was rather easy. Or that is at least is what everyone else made it seem, but to his own surprise, it was harder than he had hoped for.  A rough sigh escaped his lips, to keep himself calm so he can think rationally about this.

Okay, so you're proposing to someone you been dating for what twenty years? How hard can it be to ask him one simple question?

2d… we have been dating for twenty years and I think we are ready to move forward.

No, that way too formal

Hey D… you know how I told you that I had a lot of time to think in jail, well…Lately, I been thinking a lot about us and our relationship and.

No, too pathetic

D, love… you know how we been dating for twenty years now. Well, I been thinking about it about times we. Maybe take this relationship to the next leve-

"Uh Muh'doc are yewr okay? Yewr been in yewr room all day and ahm starting to worry"

2d said, bring the satanic bassist back to reality. "Shit he's here! He wasn't supposed to be here, fuck I forgot to get out of the room at least a good handful time! Fuck Fuck Fuck okay Murdoc calm down just act natural" Murdoc thought, as he quickly tucked the ring box into his mattress. Trying to think of what to do, Murdoc hopped on the bed and graded a magazine that he oddly placed on his bed. In one swift motion, Murdoc found himself laying down on his bed with his head placed in his palm and acting like he was interested in the article he was reading.

With no answer coming from Murdoc, 2d anxiously bit his lower lip as he slowly began to open that door. "Muh'doc?" 2d tried again, popping his head out from behind the door, before slowly coming into the room and closing the door behind him.  His black orbs eyes searched around the room but slowly came to the halt as he spotted Murdoc laying down on his bed. Causing the haired man to smile, as he quickly made his way over to the bassist. "'ey Mudz," he said, as he carefully sat down on beside the bassist Leaning more towards Murdoc, to read over his shoulder. But sadly, didn't word as Murdoc noticed his presence. Still trying his best to pull off as he wasn't hiding something, Murdoc casually glanced over his shoulder closing the magazine as he does so.

"Wut do yewr want Bluebird"

Murdoc said in a gruff voice, glaring at 2D as he waits for an answer. 2d Quickly glanced down at His hands, which were pleased gently on this lap. Trying to muster up the courage 2d closed his eyes as he began to speak, "well ah noticed yewr haven't left yewr room in a while so ah thought ah should check up on yewr..so wit are yewr doin' here anyway?" 2d shyly admitted. Noticing how creepy it may of have sound to the man next to him.

Murdoc shook his head at this, "well if yewr must now ah was plannin' our date night" He said. Earning a huge smile from 2d, opening his eyes once he heard the news. "Aww, Mudz ~! Wut did yewr have in mind?" 2d giggles at this, feeling his heart race from excitement. It has been a while since the two had a chance to go on a date, mostly since they were keeping their relationship hidden from the other. But they always made a compromise that every Friday was their day night, the one night the who gets to sneak off undetected and go off to be a real couple. So 2d was more than happy to see hear that his beloved boyfriend was planning something for tonight but little did he know it was something that was going to change his life forever.

"Can't say it's a secret but get ready by eight"

Murdoc smirked, quickly leaning in for a quick peck.

*⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*

2d was rather surprised when Murdoc pulled them up to a romantic candlelight dinner, in such a nice and beautiful place with a view. He never really expected Murdoc to ever do such a grand gesture on their date like this, but then again, he never expected Murdoc to do anything romantic. Murdoc wasn't the type of guy to do big romantic gesture without any type of reason, which left 2d to ponder over the idea of what exactly was his lover planning on doing.

2d glared at Murdoc across the table, observing his every move as his mind tried to find out what his lover was plotting. While Murdoc in the other hand was trying to muster up the courage, he needs to do what he was about to do secretly plotting everything he was about to do and say to the smallest of details. The two sat them in awkward silence, trying to find each other out.

"D...luv ah might have sumthin' at confess"

Murdoc started, as he wasn't quite ready but knew he had to go with it now. 2d swiftly sat up from his slouching sitting and glared at Murdoc. Giving a soft smile for resources, which to own surprised was only helping Murdoc a little bit. Murdoc tried to come up with how he was found to go about this, but with his anxiousness clouding his mind he was having no luck. So, he decided to let his mind take over. Murdoc looked away before he let out a small sigh, there was no point in hiding what seems to be so clear from the person he was trying to hide it from.  Murdoc carefully planned everything he was about to say, with the exception that 2d might as well interrupt him a few times. Murdoc slowly looked back at 2d, "Sweet Satan ah can't believe I'm actually going through with this" he thought before he began to speak.

"2d,love…. Yewr see this isn't one of our normal Friday date nights, ah mean we dun't usually eat on a place where yewr can easily just fall over and die"

"Muh'doc"

"which was partly mah fault that never actually crossed mah mind as ah was planning this well this is a different occasion so that would explain it ahm usually more organized than this"

"Muh'doc"

"guess we are really tryin' out the whole life on the edge huh? Livin' life to the fullest and all that, yewr know what ah always found that odd how people who ever actually did anythin' say that as if they have done it, it's like what lies yewr tryin' ta put on ma-"

"Muh'doc!"

2d yelled, snapping Murdoc out of his once again ranting moments, immediately making Murdoc stop mid-sentence and focus back on 2d. Who was at the current moment leaned back against his chair, with his arm crossed and his figure slowly tapping his left arm. Murdoc looked at 2d for a brief minute, before he let out a small awkward cough. Trying to regain his well plotted out conversation and the courage he just lost a few minutes ago back when he started off this whole conversation. "Right..sorry" Murdoc coughed, covering his mouth with his fist. Ashamed that he went on yet another rant, on something he already plotted out. Murdoc had to rethink his own idea, words seeming to be the problem. Never going out of his mouth, as he wanted them to go. So, he had to think of a new route, if words are the problem then all he could be just do that motion and hope that didn't startle his singer.

With that Murdoc quickly got up from his seat, and slowly walked towards his lover. Trying to calm down his nerves as he made his way towards him.  "Mudz?What are yewr doin"2d ask curiously, still not getting what was about to happen to him? And that his life was going to change in a way that not even he ever imagined it would, 2d watched Murdoc before looking up from where he sat to look at Murdoc. Giving a small timid smile, in hope that would help him calm down a bit.

"2d,luv… over the time that we were dating, I had a lot of time ta think of wut ah wanted in my life and how ah was goin' ta go about it... And well ah decided after datin' for twenty plus years that ah think ahm ready ta move on..with yew"

Murdoc started out, not trying to question everything he said. While also Surprising the blue bird that was right in front of him, 2d looked at him in confusion. Not really understanding, but soon got the idea once he saw Murdoc kneels before him. A blush ran across both males faces, with joy and anxious not far behind, neither of them expecting this to be the moment that would end their years of dating and start a new era of a life they will share together.

"2d, would yewr give meh the honor ta be yewr belov'd husband?"

"Yes Yes a thousand time YES!!!"

2d practically shouted, before quickly tacking Murdoc down to a hug. Tipping over the bassist, as he wasn't prepared for such a bold action. Joy ran across both male faces, along with the giggling fit 2d had from how much joy he was having at this moment. With no words said, Murdoc carefully graded his lover's hand and gently placed the ring onto his lover's ring fingered. 2d couldn't help it but smile, as he glanced over at the ring then Murdoc then the ring. 2d gently looked up at his lover, before leaning in for a tender kiss.

Nothing could have been perfect than this moment

*⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*❀⑅*

Let us pray together. Giver of life and love, we give thanks for all the beauty in the world; for its promise and its fulfillment; for all that gives gladness; for the joys of knowledge and of love and of faith. We give thanks for all that binds us to one another; for all the common experiences which make us kin; for the needs which find their highest satisfaction in loving association with others.”

” Stuart Harold Pot and Murdoc Faust Niccals and all of you gathered here today, may the love in your hearts give you joy. May the greatness of life bring you peace. And may your days be good and your lives be long upon the earth. So be it Stuart and Murdoc, will you seal your marriage/civil union/holy union with a kiss? “

With that joy spreads across the two, as neither one of them not believing what just happened. It seems to only be a fairy tale, a dream that became a reality. Or even thought of seeing the days when they combined their two lives together. The two quickly turn to face each other, smiles pleasured onto there as they lend in and sweetie the wedding in one single kiss.

Both of them knowing that their lives were never going to be the same, but was oddly happy about it. Neither regretting what they did, even thought Murdoc did had realized that he had no control of what the future holds. Having his bluebird around was the only thing he had no problems with it. As long they had each other by their side, they truly believed there was nothing that could stop them.

Cheering and joy were heard, Noodle, of course, bring the one with the loudest yet supportive one. Followed by Russell, who couldn't believe the two went through this but somehow was happy for them.  Joy filled the area, as a new life began with the two now wedded love birds. But with a new life.

a new challenged waited for them.

#2doc #StuartHaorldPot #murdoc niccals #gaylove #gay cute #gaymarriage

[lokilickedme]

So actually two: Dia Laisir and The Liar

I don’t even know where to start with Dia Laisir, honestly.  Folklore?  Mythology?  A 3 a.m. rant fueled by too much coffee, way too many Little Debbies, and a seven day run of not enough sleep?  Getting close, I think.

Dia Laisir is a totally made up little minor god that I invented to explain King McClary’s apparently fireproof boots.  Loki battled him in the Scottish Highlands way back in the day before people were the dominant species there, and upon the minor god’s defeat and subsequent banishment, Loki cast him into an inanimate object and bound him there so he couldn’t fuck around with the few heathen humans that had migrated into the land.  The whole casting thing might have been totally on accident, by the way - Loki’s never been terribly accurate with his magic and popular opinion has it that he was actually trying to obliterate the demon.

Shit goes wrong and alcohol’s a hell of a problem, ya know?

Dia Laisir didn’t like that much, as you can probably guess.  First off, Loki wasn’t even supposed to be in Scotland.  Norse god, messing around in the Highlands?  What the hell’s that about?  Second, that wasn’t all the god of mischief and general fuckery did to old Dia.  Before he shoved him into the trunk of a tree to live the rest of his natural-born as a knotty pine, Loki banished Dia’s lover, Souflou, into a nondescript chunk of silver that some axe-wielding lunatic had tucked into his sporran, thus separating the two forever.

Yeah, there was a whole lot of fuck you Loki spinning around in Dia Laisir’s head for the next few decades until some axe-wielding lunatic chopped down the tree he was bound to (probably the same one hauling haunted semi precious metals around in his crotch bag, but history doesn’t verify much) and accidentally set him free.

Stuff started burning.  Forests, villages, pretty much anything with a flammability rating went up in smoke, because Dia was pissed.  Souflou had been shuffled around from place to place in that silver chunk, molded into various bits and bobs as the heathens learned how to turn silver into useful things, and every time Dia got close to finding her the silver that housed her spirit changed hands or was made into something else.  And so Dia Laisir’s rage burned, and so did big chunks of the Highlands.

Eventually Loki caught a whiff of the smoke from wherever he was, I dunno probably getting dicked down by some eleven-legged something or other, and with a dramatic sigh he poofed himself over to Scotland again to find out what the hell was going on.  Dia was supposed to be in a frigging tree trunk, wasn’t he?  Naw, he was running all over the hills and moors and lochs doing his damndest to obliterate the human scourge that kept moving his love around so that he couldn’t find her, and after an epic battle royale in which Loki siphoned off about half of Dia’s firestarting powers (hey, those might come in handy later) he finally managed to send crankybutt’s spirit into a sword strapped to the saddle of a passing local.  May or may not have been a McClary, btw.  Just sayin.

But that sword had a nasty habit of transferring the soul inside it to whoever it killed, which you can imagine was a messy bit of business because the guy who owned it was a bloodthirsty son of a bitch.  Like I said, possibly a McClary, and you know how they are.

So Loki yanked Dia Laisir out of the sword after a few years of hearing stories about the cursed blade and all the lopsided battles its owner kept winning, and while sitting in a dark smoke-filled pub one night half drunk out of his head and obsessing over what the hell to put this thing into where it couldn’t interfere with the natural progression of Scotland’s ruling power, he tried to send it into a shield that was hammered onto the wall over the fireplace - but too much mead and Loki being Loki, he passed out in the middle of the banishment spell and when his head hit the table the soul’s trajectory went south to the floor instead of northeast to the fireplace.

Into the left boot of a big black haired brute of a warrior that was currently wolfing down a leg of lamb while simultaneously groping a leg of barmaid.

Loki woke the following morning laying face down across the table he’d passed out on, and the brute with the cursed boots was gone.  Eh, good riddance, the boots would eventually wear out and be discarded and Dia would go with them into the fire, where his spirit would disperse into the cosmos.  Not Loki’s problem anymore.

Except Dia Laisir was a wily fucker, and figured out a way to slip out of the boots through a hole in the sole.

So Loki dragged his gettin-tired-of-this-shit hiney back to Scotland again, and since putting a fearsome god inside something like a pair of shoes that some lowly human would wear on their feet - stepping in cow shit and stomping on bugs - made Loki giggle like a schoolgirl, he did it again, only this time with a sturdier pair of footwear that wouldn’t be so easy to get out of.

It worked.  Dia was stuck, harmless, incapacitated, forced to watch the decades and then the centuries pass from two inches above the ground.  And each time Loki started to smell the smoke that signaled the end of the lifespan of Dia’s current home and the likelihood of his escape, he would return to Scotland and move the angry spirit into another pair of shoes.

Until finally the modern era erupted around humankind, and with it came good quality, durable, high-lifespan materials and the means by which to turn them into goods that could take a beating without disintegrating quickly.  A man named Klaus Martens was born and started using those materials to make shoes that were damn near indestructible.  And Loki’s problems with the fire god were finally over.

The thick-soled sturdy boots that he sent Dia into would last damn near forever.  But just to be safe, when those boots started to show heavy wear and had changed hands multiple times, he returned to Scotland one more time and acquired them through somewhat nefarious means (we won’t go into that part right now) and, using the illusion of a homeless man, he roamed the streets of Glasgow with them on his own feet in search of someone trustworthy to entrust them to.  Because he was sick of running back and forth to Scotland every couple of decades to keep doing this shit - he was getting old, he had other things to do with his time thanks so much.  He needed someone he could trust to keep the fire god’s spirit safe and secluded and far, far away from his lover...because Souflou had eventually ended up in a child’s silver rattle which was sitting right that moment in the display window of a gift shop in Edinburgh, and Dia Laisir could sense her nearness.  If the two of them ever ended up in close proximity again it would be the end of the world as we know it.  Humankind would burn.

The Trickster had no particular love for humanity, but it provided him with entertainment and he wasn’t big on the idea of taking the blame for yet another genocide.

So Loki, in the guise of a street beggar, waited for someone worthy to acknowledge him.  Tens, hundreds, and then thousands of people passed him by, disinterested in him, ignoring his presence -

- until the day a young boy sat down next to him wearing a brand new pair of boots.

“Nice boots” Loki said.

The boy just nodded.  He didn’t like his new boots.  They were stiff and hurt his ankles.  His grandda had insisted they would break in soon and be comfortable, but the boy felt his nerves going up in flames with every step as the hard leather rubbed his skin.  His eyes, green like Loki’s, kept going to the ratty worn out boots on the beggar’s feet.

And then without a word the boy unlaced his brand new Doc Martens and took them off, then knelt down at the beggar’s feet and unlaced the worn out boots and replaced them with his own, tying the ties slowly before putting the old, dusty, broken down pair on his own feet.

And Loki smiled.

He’d found a human that he knew could handle the cranky fire god.  This boy was quiet but strong, silent but smart, and somehow he knew the child understood the importance of those boots.

He must be one of mine, the trickster god thought proudly.  He’d never visited Scotland without availing himself of the charms of the locals, and as a result the land was fairly crawling with many generations of his offspring.  The boy’s soft green eyes and black hair certainly reminded him of himself.  Hmm.  There was something else too...the line of the kings had come to a lurching halt a couple of generations back as the modern age stripped the people of any desire to hold onto the old ways, but Loki sensed it in the lanky teenager.  He was a king.

“They don’t look like much, but they’ll get you where you’re going,” he told the boy, pointing toward the boots on his feet.  “Fireproof, you know.  And you will be too, when you’re wearing them.”

The boy nodded.  An old woman ducked her head out of the bakery they were sitting against and smiled when her eyes fell to them.

“Get in here boy, I’ve got your sweeties on the table.”

The boy stood, testing the fit of the boots.  They felt good.  Comfortable.  Like they belonged to him.  The barest hint of a smile tugged his lips and he looked at the beggar, holding out one hand to help him up off the sidewalk.

The heavily frosted and ridiculously decorated pastries the boy shared with him as they sat together at a little table in the back of the bakery were the best damn thing Loki thought he’d ever tasted in his long, tiresome, faintly ridiculous life.  And Dia Laisir smoldered, sending a heat into the boy that tempered him like a flame hardens steel.  He would need that strength, Loki knew.  But it would be okay.

The boy was worthy.

#Dia Laisir #the Fire God boots #The McClary Chronicles #King's fireproof boots #Loki #mythology #I made all this ridiculous shit up but now that I read it I'm kinda proud of it #Loki and The King Of Claighe #King McClary #stuff I wrote #bethbabybaby

[pipeact12-blog]

Horror's History with Violence Against Women, feat. Tragedy Girls, Evil Eye, & What Have You Done to Solange?

Every October I devote at least one blog post to Giallo films, but I have to deviate this year.

Giallo is a fascinating genre, and I owe Ryan Boyd for helping me jump into them. They're Horror about people who are guilty of something, or who got too close to the orbit of crime to wash the dirt off of them. They let their protagonists be wrong in ways no other sub-genre of Horror allows.

But they are also sleazy, eager to sexualize young women and assault them in ways that can be even more off-putting than Slashers. Some of the most lauded Giallo have problematic art to how they like to destroy girls. This month, after a year of #MeToo and yet another suspect of sexual violence being voted onto the U.S. Supreme Court, I have to interrupt the Giallo vibes a bit. Horror has too few ladies who get to be the killer and be proud in the way it lets Freddy, Jigsaw, and Pennywise.

So today we're going to look at two Giallo films and how they treat women - but only after we look at The Tragedy Girls, a Horror Comedy about a pair of BFFs who are tired of waiting around to be filler victims. These girls are going to become the killers, and get famous off of it.

Tragedy Girls (2017)

Tragedy Girls doesn't care that the bar for women in modern Horror is to be strong heroines who fight against cruelty. It happily picks two teen girls, who are petty and sometimes hilariously short-sighted, and makes them both the lead characters and the killers. The opening of the movie is one of them pretending to neck with a local boy in the efforts to fish out a serial killer.

Oh, they don't want to stop they killer. They want to catch him and study under him. This business is hard and they want professional advice.

In the vein of Cabin in the Woods and Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, Tragedy Girls is a deconstruction of Slasher tropes, but for once the comedy comes from eagerly participating in the industry. McKayla and Sadie are mean girls and woefully unpopular. They barely get any retweets. They know the best way to get attention is grief. They’ve been studying spree killers, and even captured one to try to get him to teach them how it’s done. Mentorships are rare in this field. Their plan is to kill off students they don’t like and then pose as grief-stricken classmates for mainstream media. They’re going to get so many followers on Twitter.

The humor is more ruthless than the killers. McKayla and Sadie are masterfully played as unflinching monsters with perfect make-up, whose greatest flaw is not always covering their tracks as well as they could. They’re more concerned about a kill being tacky than with becoming suspects. They have their crushes, and their in-fighting over whether boys are right for them or right for the grave, but they get each other. 

It's a cheeky story that doesn't mind slamming nose-first into their selfishness with the same glee Freddy Kruger gets to play with in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Many Slashers are built around rooting for the killer; this time that angle is being used for profound empowerment, because their stereotype are the sorts of girls who were thrown into late 80's scripts to pad body counts. Even the society around them barely thinks of them as suspects because they don't take teen girls seriously, and that's something for them to change. While the girls grow, their arcs do not bend towards turning into sweeter moral Survivor Girls.

They are the next generation of Slasher killers, and they’re adorbs BFFs. The scariest thing would be if they turned on each other.

It is fun from the first twist all the way to the end credits. All of the right things go wrong, and who you’re supposed to sympathize with moves surprisingly slyly. We’ve seen allegedly enlightened takes on the Slasher genre before, but it’s usually about the politics of victims. Making the kind of girls who are usually victims of the killer into the killers gives them enough mileage for at least a couple sequels. Tragedy Girls is brilliant. Watch it.

The Evil Eye, AKA The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

After getting a taste of Mario Bava last year with Blood and Black Lace and Bay of Blood, I had to come back this year. Evil Eye shows  up on so many Best of Giallo lists, and is frequently credited as the first true Giallo.

In the course of one day, Nora Davis flies from America to Rome, has her hostess die of a mysterious illness, is mugged on her way to getting help and loses her ID, gets a head wound that causes amnesia, and witnesses a grisly murder to which she is the only witness. By the time she’s coherent and remembers the murder, all evidence of it has vanished, and the local authorities stick her in an asylum.

Poor Nora. She's stuck in the plot of three movies at once, and doesn’t get agency over any of them.

This movie is packed with badly directed and badly acted set-ups. Nora is stalked  by a mysterious figure, falls in love with a possessive creep, and stumbles upon the notes of a serial killer whose victims’ names correspond to letters in the alphabet. There’s one scene where it seems like ghostly voices are chiding her into an abandoned house. Also there’s a painting that keeps looking at Nora’s butt.

What stands out most is that nobody takes Nora seriously. She is mocked by doctors as an alcoholic since a cop once smelled alcohol on her breath. The murder victim she witnessed the demise of has vanished, so cops ignore her pleas and say she got the idea from reading cheap books. Her love interest takes the “next step” in their relationship by pretending he’s going to murder her, and then instead grabs her for a make-out session that she doesn’t seem to enjoy that much. Over and over, she’s treated like someone with an unimportant role in her own life. That she’s clearly onto a plot (or five plots, given how packed the movie is) doesn’t reduce how awkward the movie is.

Evil Eye is the American cut of the movie, and is supposed to be a little goofier, but both versions of the movie have a lot of camp. It’s aged into something that feels like Horror’s doofy grandparent. There’s a trombone sound when two people bonk heads getting into a cab, and Nora defends her home by tying loose strings around the hallway. The acting is wooden in a way familiar of the black-and-white era, but there’s a serious lack of chemistry even the lovers are on top of each other. For everything Nora goes through, she at least deserves better than that.

What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)

Above every other movie I cover this October, this one needs a Content Warning. It is an exploitative Giallo about a serial killer at a Catholic school stalking teen girls and killing them in explicitly sexual manner. It is deliberately messy and uses that to powerful ends, condemning the Catholic values that marginalize girls and make them objects of scorn. It also brutalizes those same girls in ways the modern MPAA board would never let you get away with. This film is EXTREMELY NOT FOR EVERYBODY.

  While the DNA of later Slasher films is obvious in this Giallo, what sets it apart the hardest is how little it shows of its murders. Only one happens on screen, and most of them are depicted through brief suggestive shots, and through the discovery of cadavers. Instead the focus is on how horrible it is that the deaths happened, and how distraught the friends, families, and lovers are. They keep it tense by fostering the fear that this will happen to more people. The victims are more humanized, even though they’re more transgressive in life than most of their Slasher counterparts would be a decade later.

It’s also a clearly formative movie on those Slashers. The legendary Ennio Morricone scored the film, and his mutilated violins here are the same thing that the early Friday the 13th films would rely on a decade later. It also features a killer’s POV tracking shot two years before Black Christmas and six years before John Carpenter’s Halloween. It’s hard to believe that none of these filmmakers saw this movie. There’s so much strong about this movie that I can see why it would influence aspiring Horror creators. It doesn’t make me think less of their movies (it only makes me think less of the feud between Black Christmas and Halloween supporters).

What Have You Done to Solange? is doing  different things from those movies, particularly in how it treats its cast. Friday the 13th is about sexually active tweens, but they’re supposed to be relatable in their indiscretions now that they’ve escaped adult supervision. Black Christmas has a slightly more transgressive cast, but it doesn’t feel nearly as transgressive as the status quo in What Have You Done to Solange?.

Here the main characters are a teacher and student having an affair at a Catholic school, with a supporting cast of friends who are the ones who roll their eyes at Mass and smoke in the shower. These are not the carefree teenagers of Friday the 13th. They are smarter, they are closer to each other, and are sneaking their pleasure into an oppressive daily life of intrusive parents and stalkers. Their transgressions are supposed to make them complicated, not guilty.

Those non-judgmental complications might go too far for some modern audiences. Particularly the guiltless affair between the teacher and student ignores the obvious power dynamic between them, treating it as a consensual romantic joy. It is even sympathetic that the older man needs to hide this from his employer’s and the girl’s father, which screams for a #MeToo intervention. But Giallo doesn’t care whether it’s transgressing against that kind of norm, anymore than it cares that its leads are disrespecting the stifling nature of their school at every turn.

Revisiting the classic Slashers reveals movies that feel less like punishment narratives for teens, and more movies where teen audiences are supposed to relate to transgression and root for the cast to survive. It was later that rooting for the killer became the B-movie norm, and makes those earlier movies more interesting because they recognized young people deserve a break, not a chainsaw.

The best Giallo, like What Have You Done to Solange?, goes further, not treating sneaking a blunt as cute, but natural. The real transgression is that things regressed as they went forward. Something like The Tragedy Girls should have come out within a decade of this, not fifty years later.

Coming up Monday: Paralysis Movies! Upgrade and Short Night of Glass Dolls

Source: http://johnwiswell.blogspot.com/2018/10/horrors-history-with-violence-against.html